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MARSEILLE - Defending champions England, largely written off as rugby World Cup no-hopers, have thrown their hat into the ring after recording a nailbiting 12-10 win over Australia in the quarterfinals today.
The English, who beat the Wallabies to win the 2003 World Cup final, will now play
France in the semifinals in Paris next weekend after the tournament hosts stunned the world's No 1-ranked team New Zealand 20-18 in a black day for the Southern Hemisphere giants.
"It's one day, one win," captain Phil Vickery stressed after England's victory, sealed thanks to a robust forward performance in the scrum and broken play, and four penalties from the boot of Jonny Wilkinson.
"We're in the draw now so let's see what someone else has to offer us next week. We look forward to next weekend with anticipation."
For a team who stuttered through the pool stages, lost 0-36 to South Africa, but with wins over the United States 28-10, Samoa 44-22 and Tonga 37-20, England's result against Australia ranked as an upset.
"It sits comfortably with myself to be the underdog and be written off, not just personally but in a team environment," said England lock Simon Shaw, who was outstanding around the field.
He said his team's gameplan had not differed any from previous games, but was quick to praise the power of the front row, who destroyed their Wallabies rivals.
"We didn't set out to do anything unusual," he said.
"We caused the most damage in the scrum. Andrew Sheridan, Mark Regan and Phil Vickery are a pretty formidable front row."
Lawrence Dallaglio, the sole Englishman to have played every minute of the winning campaign four years ago and who came on as a No 8 replacement, rated the win as one of the best.
"This is a knockout competition and we will enjoy the victory and enjoy the night. Everyone expected us to lose and it is a great scalp," he said.
One person to whom England's form did not come as a surprise was Australia coach John Connolly, who had always maintained that the English were a power at this World Cup.
"I said before the tournament that their scrum, lineout, Wilkinson, the pace they've got outside, would be a massive threat to anyone," he said.
England hooker Mark Regan added: "We dominated the forward exchanges I thought."
Regan, who played under Australia's forwards coach Michael Foley when he was at Bath, said that if England had been one thing, it was certainly not undercooked after their testing pool matches.
"Our World Cup has been on the edge for three weeks now. This was Australia's first real test so maybe we were more battle hardened. We'd been smashed up for the last three weeks," he said.
"We have just beaten one of the favoured sides to win the World Cup, so we are building nicely and we are now a threat.
"We've been in trouble for the last three weeks, haven't we? There's been a lot of soul searching and we are like the band of brothers."
- AFP